Fastener.



No. 684,|4 5.- Patgnted on. a, 1901;

8. P. WATT.

FASTENEB.

(Application filed Apr. 11, 1901.)

I (No Model.)

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

SEEN P. IVA'IT, OF MORGAN PARK, ILLINOIS.

FASTENER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 684,145, dated October 8, 1901. Application filed April 11, 1901. Serial No. 55,422. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, SEEN P. \VATT, a citizen of the United States, residing at Morgan Park, in the county of (look and State of Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Fasteners, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to fasteners generally, and is more particularly applicable for fasteners for papers and the like; and its object is to provide a simple, inexpensive, and efiicieut device of this character capable of being secu red to the papers without the need of an instrumentor tool of any kind whatsoever.

Other advantages of my improved fastener will be apparent from the description hereinafter given.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a plan of one of my fasteners in flat or extended form; Fig. 2, an elevation of my fastener when bent ready for use; Fig. 3, a section of my fastener applied to a bunch of papers and showing the second operation; Fig. 4, a similar section showing the beginning of the third operation; Fig. 5, a section showing the completion of said third operation; Fig. 6, a plan View of a strip provided with holes for a special purpose; and Figs. 7 and 8, plan and section, respectively, of the fastener shown in Fig. 6.

While it will be evident that my invention may assume different forms as regards general construction, shape, and material employed and may be made under difierent methods, I will proceed, simply for the sake of a clear and comprehensive description and without intention of limitation, to describe my invention as embodied in the particular forms illustrated in the drawings,which forms have been found by me to be desirable and preferable, as at present advised.

Referring to Figs. 1 to 5, I take a sheet or strip 1 of suitable shape and dimensions and of any suit-able material capable of the purposes desired, which strip is preferably of metal and corrugated. In the preferred form of the fastener,such as illustrated in said Figs. 1 to 5, the corrugations are broken or discontinned, so as to form bending-lines 2 and 3, whereby the strip may be divided into the three sections 4, 5, and 6. The section 4 is along said line.

provided with a projecting pin or tongue 7 of any suitable or desired dimensions and preferably so made or weakened atitsline of junction with said section as to readily bend The strip is also provided with a hole S,arranged on the bending or dividing line 3 between the sections 5 and 6. The strip may be conveniently stamped out by any suitable die; but it is obvious that it might be otherwise made as found convenient or desir able. The strip need not be corrugated, as will be evident from a description of the strip shown in Fig. 6, hereinafter referred to, and, again, any means for causing the strip to readily bend along the proper lines is contemplated as within my invention. Any weakening at any point of any kind of a strip, whether corrugated or flat, will permit the strip to bend at such point. So as to be ready for immediate use the pin and its section 4 are bent to the form shown in Fig. 2, the pin being bentto a position substantially at right angles to said section, and a bunch 9, of paper or the like, is inserted, as shown in said Fig. 2. This represents the first stage of operation. In the proper manipulation of my fastener the first or index finger of the operator is brought beneath section 5 of the strip, just to the outer edge of the hole 8, and the thumb is brought to bear upon the top of section 4 immediately above the pin, which is forced or driven through the paper and through said hole 8. This is the second stage of operation or manipulation and is clearly represented in Fig. 3. The next stage, Fig. 4, consists in bending down the section 6, the fastener being held to the paper by the grasp of the operator. In thus being bent down flat on the section 5 said section 6 acts as a lever and protector for the operator and carries down the pin, which is thus manipulated without the inconvenience of tools and danger of using the finger for this purpose. The pin thus lies covered between the sections 5 and 6, as clearly shown in Fig. 5.

From the foregoing description it is evident that my fastener is both the fastener proper and its own tool or instrument for providing for the securing of the fastener to the papers. Furthermore, the construction and operation are such that the pin may be caused Without undue exertion to penetrate a bunch of pa- I pers of comparatively great thickness.

It is not necessary that the bunch of paper should extend to or substantially to the bending-line between the sections-tand 5, as shown in Figs. 2 to 5, but only so far as to afford sufficient hold or anchorage for the fastener. The fastener may be permitted to extend somewhat beyond the line or edge of the papers, as shown in Fig. 7, and when this is done it is convenient and in some cases desirable to provide means for hanging the papers on a pin or hook or for placing them on a desk-spindle or the like without causing the papers to bepenetrated or punctured by the pin or spindle. To this end I provide the strip (flat or corrugated, as desired, but here shown as flat in Figs. 6 and 7) with registering holes 13, formed therein either before or after bending. In Figs. 6 and 7 this strip is composed of three sections 4, 5, and 6, the first two of which are preferably of equal length and the third one of which is somewhat shorter, while in Fig. 1 the sections are of the same length. As shown, the papers are not inserted as far inward as the holes; but the latter are left beyond the edge of the paper, so as to receive a pin or spindle without penetrating said papers. It will not be necessary to score or otherwise arrange for the proper bending of the strip between sections 15 and 16, inasmuch as the hole 11 makes the strip weakest at this point and the bending must occur there.

WVhen the fasteners are placed upon the market, they may be either in the fiat form illustrated in Fig. l, for instance, or in the partially-bent-up form illustrated in Fig. 2, where they are shown as ready for use. When they are thus bent up in ready form, it is obvious that it will not be necessary to provide the strips with bending-lines at all, the strip in such case being initially bent by the user or operator only along the line 3 and the hole 8 itself so weakening the strip as to permit the proper bending along said line 3.

From the foregoing description it is evident that my fastener is not only most inexpensive and simple in construction, but eflicient for the purposes desired, as well as capable of base at an angle to its section, then forced -V through the papers to be fastened together and also through said hole, and the third sec tion being reversely bent down upon the sec- 0nd or intermediate section carrying the pin also down upon such section by further bend-. a

ing thereof.

2. A fastener comprising a strip composed of three sections adapted to be bent on each other and having a projecting pin on the first section and a hole on the bending-line be-V Q tween the second and third sections, said first and second sections having holes adapted to register when such sections are bent over upon each other.

3. A fastener comprising a strip composed of three sections adapted to be bent over each other, the first and second sections being of the same length and each having a hole at equal distances from the bending-line between them, and the third being of less length, said strip having a projecting pin and also an opening on the bending-line between the second and third sections.

4. A fastener comprising a strip adapted to be transversely bent over the edge of the papers or the like and having a pin adapted to be bent at an angle to said strip and to be forced through said papers and then bent back upon said strip, said strip having holes at equal distances on either side of' the bending-line, which holes are exposed beyond the edges of the papers so fastened.

SERN P. \VATT.

Witnesses:

SAMUEL E. HIBBEN, FLORENCE KING.

iii 

